Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the number of NHS dentist appointments available for people in Faversham and Mid Kent constituency.

In 2019, a review of mandatory dental services in Kent identified Faversham as an area of significant need. Following this review, National Health Service dental contracts were agreed with five new dental practices with an overall increase of 19 whole-time equivalent dentists.

NHS England is currently preparing to procure further mandatory dental services in Kent, based on the current areas of greatest need. This will be aligned to the review being undertaken by NHS England and the South East Region Consultant in Dental Public Health.

Since July 2022, NHS England has asked practices to deliver 100% of contracted units of dental activity to safely improve access for patients, including in Faversham and Mid Kent.

The Department and NHS England have recently announced improvements to the NHS dental system to increase access, target patients with higher oral health needs and make NHS dentistry a more attractive place to work for dentists and their teams, including in Kent.